A Japanese religion dating from prehistoric times, based on the worship of ancestors and nature-spirits. In early times each clan had its kami. With the supremacy of the Yamato, its Sun-goddess, Amaterasu, enshrined at the temple at Ise, became paramount.

The name Shinto was adopted in the 6th century ad to distinguish it from Buddhist and Confucian cults. There is no official Shinto scripture, although the Kojiki (Records of Ancient Matters) and Nihon-gi (Chronicles of Japan), 8th-century compilations based on oral tradition, contain myths and stories about creation and the gods. During the 5th century ad, the spread of Confucianism introduced ancestor worship to Shinto, and in the 6th century Buddhist beliefs became incorporated into the ancient religion.

During the 19th century the rise of the unified Japanese state saw the development of state Shinto: the emperor came to be worshipped as a descendant of the Sun-goddess Amaterasu. State Shinto was not classed as a religion but as a code of conduct requiring loyalty and obedience to the divine emperor; it informed all public life and encouraged extreme nationalism, until it was rescinded by the emperor (under US pressure) in 1945. It was replaced by the older form, shrine Shinto, the worship of kami in shrines or sanctuaries, tended by priests. In the home, the kami are housed within a kamidana, or ‘godshelf’. Personal worship involves purification rites and daily prayers to the kami. Shinto is regarded as the religion of life, while Buddhism is seen as that of death; marriages are therefore celebrated according to Shinto tradition, while people generally choose Buddhist rites for funerals.